The major interest of our laboratory is the pathophysiology of inflammation as it relates to autoimmune diseases. Our current research focuses on: 1) the role of the complement system in vascular injury, 2) the molecular basis of angiogenesis, and 3) characterizing novel endothelial ligands for the leukocyte adhesion molecule L-Selectin.The major interest of our laboratory is the molecular mechanisms of inflammation. Our current research will focus on the role of two chemotactic peptides, neutrophil chemotactic factor and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, in developing inflammatory lesions. We plan to clone and express the genes for both chemotactic factors and manipulate their expression in vivo using an animal model.